What polish should I use?

Ok so I have an unusual one, I just boguht a Ducati motorbike which has no clear coat on it, well it does but apperantly the clear and colour are mixed so it's more susceptible to chips and scratches than if it had a separate clear . The more expensive models have a separate clear coat but because it's a cheaper model apperantly they mixed them.

I want to detail it, I've never detailed before. I'm going to buy a clay bar and cheap polishing machine but I need advise on what polish to use. The thing is only a few years old so it just has some regular swirl marks and scratches.

One thing I did do was haze/ scratch the **** out of the tank because my bag had a plastic tab that wraps around my belly and leaning on it properly did a job on the front of the tank but I used scratch remover and got 95% of it off but I'd like to do a proper job on it now and get that gone and do the whole thing while I'm at it , obviously don't want to use the scratch remover all over..
( If this helps determine the paint type, there was red colouring coming off on the rag when I used the scratch remover, dunno does that help you guys. It's a red bike)

Also it has decals on it that I don't want to damage, how do I approach them?

I've watched enough videos that I'm confident on technique but it's more what products I use with this paint type, it's new enough (2014) and the paint is in very good condition bar swirl marks and the damage my strap did) so I would think a mild product

What do you guys recommend pad wise and polish wise for the paint type I have described?

Thanks
Dave

Curran

Any polish will work - its essentially like paint for a wall; some people prefer different brands in they way they roller or brush on - but all do the same job when finished.

What suits you and your technique will be different to my preference.

Given its your first outing with a machine polisher, I wouldnt go any further than a medium polish and medium pad. So recommend you get 1 of each of the following
- Finishing polish
- Finishing pad
- Medium polish
- Medium pad

Start with a small section, using the two finishing options, see what results you are getting - if not happy, move to a finishing polish on a medium pad - if still not correcting fully, medium pad and polish combo. Remembering that its better to do two attempts with a finishing pad and polish combo, if its getting the desired results, than jumping in with a medium pad and polish and then needing to refine with the finishing combo anyways.

CarPro Reflect and Fixer are two good polishes worthy of checking out. Pads are similar to polish in that its down to preference; how they give feedback from the surface through the machine. Chemical Guys Hex Logic, Lake Country, Royal Pads, are all reliable.

Thanks for the help mate

Would I be safer just using the finishing pad considering what I said about the paint having clear and base mixed?

Curran

The thing to consider is the amount of paint you have to work with - if its a very thin layer, you dont want to go too aggressive...removing too much now will either remove it all, or leave you with no room to play with down the line if you want to polish it again, and areas like the tank are impossible not to damage.
Perhaps do a reasonable correction on it and consider a Paint Protection Film? Which went starts to look tatty, remove it and install a fresh one, on areas where you would have a lot of abrasion from leaning against it.